Images: Sergio Betancort
"We have been left with nothing and the mayor hasn't even passed by." This is how the residents of Aires de Lima street in Arrecife have expressed themselves, who this Monday morning went to the Town Hall to ask for help, after their houses were affected by the heavy rains that occurred on the island last Tuesday.
In their favor, they carried photographs showing how the water entered their houses, flooding everything and causing them to lose many of their belongings. "I had merchandise, because I work in a street market, and I have nothing left. I don't even have a place to sleep. I'm sleeping on a borrowed mattress on the floor. I've thrown away the whole house," said one neighbor. "My father is an elderly person. We had to go help, because the house had a large amount of water. The armchairs are all worthless," said another.
However, although the mayor of Arrecife, Cándido Reguera, along with the president of the Canary Islands Government, Paulino Rivero, toured the streets of the capital most affected by the storm last Friday, the residents of Aires de Lima street say that "no one has passed" through there. "Help has been given to the most affected houses and our street has not been taken care of. We haven't even had cleaning help," said one neighbor.
According to another of those affected, on Tuesday they called 112 "to close the street, because it was full of water", and they didn't "even pay attention" to them. "We ourselves had to cross the cars so they wouldn't pass," she said.
"On Friday, when four drops fell, I called the firemen to unclog the sewers again, because I was scared, crying without knowing what to do. Until recently I didn't even have clothes. I have had to ask for clothes from the neighbors, my friends and my mother. I also have a small child and no one has offered us anything," said another of the residents of Aires de Lima street.
The neighbors have not been able to see the mayor, since Cándido Reguera was meeting this Monday morning with the board of Aetur, to address a support plan for the hospitality industry in Arrecife. Even so, after their presence in the Town Hall, they have been informed that an expert will come next week to Aires de Lima street, to assess the damage caused by the storm, according to one of the neighbors. "Let's see if we get something."
